Allow the finger of God to touch our ears and tongue … so we can listen to and bless others, and be less condemning
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time – September 8, 2024
The First Reading reveals that the Israelites were in distress: “Say to all faint hearts, ‘Courage! Do not be afraid.” Then follows encouragement to the Israelites, and us, not to lose HOPE for a good solution: as long as we keep up the struggle.
But, now, really, is that enough? Just encouraging words? In the Gospel Jesus cures a deaf and dumb man: Jesus is inviting us to “hear” differently and “speak” differently and be changed. Albert Einstein said: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” The way we speak and how we listen is a large part of our thinking processes.
At High School when given a big project assignment, I used to start sweating and worrying: how am I going to do this? However, after breaking the project down into smaller ‘problems’, I was able to answer each and, surprise-surprise, the big project was solved.
So, the simple pastoral message of today is this: let Jesus stick his fingers into your ears and put a bit of saliva on your tongue and believe! But how do we do that? The start of today’s Gospel can easily be overlooked: “Returning from the district of Tyre, Jesus went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, right through the Decapolis region.”
Tyre was the very prosperous main port for Syria. Sidon, also a busy port. And the Decapolis was a non-Jewish area. Jesus walked for 8 months: solutions take time and effort.
Remember how, earlier, Jesus had been rejected by his home village (Mk 6), and Jesus noted that a prophet is not accepted in his own country. Now, in Mark 7 we see Jesus healing foreigners whereas, in his home town, there was little faith! Strange isn’t it? This teaches us that God is not far away but present in our friends/ family members: if we listen differently.
How many times have you been told at school or by your parents: “Johnny, stop! Listen to me!” or “if you use language like that again, I’ll wash your mouth out with soap!” Being an active part of a Faith Community helps us learn many things (listening), and practice speaking. We hear new ideas, and learn better ways of speaking to create better relationships.
Right now the Paralympics are being held in Paris. So many gifted and talented individuals giving their amazing best in spite of physical challenges. The secret to their skills and achievements is not related to their physical perfection, but in the way they changed how they think and act: no doubt they had to learn a new way of speaking and hearing.
The actions of Jesus are less about removing a physical disability, and more about helping us see that, with Jesus Christ as a daily part of our lives, we will learn to speak in a new way and hear what we need to guide our thinking to a more powerful solutions.
In recent years, individualism has increased as has mental health cases: it shows that serious community involvement keeps us more balanced and happy. However, many young people see the focus on “my needs and wants” as “normal” and expect life to get better without changing.
The Jewish people were also fixed into a certain way of living and thinking. They were angry when Jesus tried to tell them a new way to God: to focus on love and not the law. Have you ever watched some bread that is left in the package for too long? It gets mouldy and is not healthy to eat: this is what happens to us when we fail to give away God’s love.
The purpose behind the miracles of Jesus, you see, is to open the “ears” of people to the reality that God’s LOVE is among them. And that the secret to a happy life is gratitude and generosity to others, as expressions of love from God: to “speak” and give away God’s love.
Religion and Faith do not remove challenges from life: but they help us avoid many stupid mistakes. Don’t allow despair or stubbornness to overtake our thinking: we often learn more through our mistakes. The way up is, first of all, the way down (thanks Richard Rohr OFM).
A common struggle people express is: No matter what I do, I keep “failing” in my struggle with sexual temptations. First of all, God is merciful, always! Just say sorry ask and God to help.
God made our bits and understands us. God also knows what things have happened to us that might interfere with our healthy sexual development. The intervention of Jesus for the deaf man, shows the importance of inviting another person to help us fight our temptations.
Finally, the Church teachings are NOT to condemn people, but to help protect us, and safe-guard our relationships with others. When we keep focusing on our “failures”, we spiral down into shame and depression. But, when we focus on being generous to others, and thanking God for all the good in our lives, our sexual temptations have a chance of reducing.
This week, let us ask Christ to put his finger into my ears and touch my tongue this week, so that we speak less harmful words and speak more words of blessing to empower others. May the touch of Christ help us to listen more before we rush to speak.
By Gerard Conlan, OMI
